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It was with the greatest sadness that I read the announcement of the passing of the American masestro and conducting teacher Harold Farberman last week on Slipped Disc.  In fact, I knew of Harold’s passing prior to the public announcement, but was very pleased that it at least received passing coverage on this Internet platform.  You can read my thoughts about Maestro Farberman’s contribution and advocacy for conductors within the comments section below Mr. Lebrecht’s short announcement.

This is Harold’s own, personal, biographical summary written shortly before his passing:

Harold Farberman has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras, among them the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the BBC Symphony, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Stockholm Philharmonic, the Danish Radio Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Orchestra, the Hessischer Rundfunk, the RAI in Rome, the Mozarteum Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the KBS, the Seoul Philharmonic, and the Sydney and Melbourne Symphonies in Australia.

Upon graduating from The Julliard School of Music in New York, Mr. Farberman was invited to join the Boston Symphony Orchestra as a percussionist/timpanist. At the time he was the youngest player ever to become a full-time member of the orchestra. He resigned in 1963 to devote his energy to conducting and composing. In 1966 he was appointed principal guest conductor of the Denver Symphony Orchestra, subsequently becoming the music director and conductor of the Colorado Springs Symphony from 1967 to 1970, and the Oakland Symphony Orchestra from 1971 to 1979.

As a recording artist, Mr. Farberman has recorded more of Charles Ives’ works than any other conductor and is the only person to date to have recorded all four of that composer’s symphonies. A a result he was honored with the Ives Award from the Charles Ives Society. In 1980 he began a project to record the Mahler symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra and the complete symphonies of Michael Haydn with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, for MMG Records. His recording of Gliere’s Symphony No. 3 with Ilya Murometz with the Royal Philharmonic on the Unicorn label received Belgium’s highest recording award, the Saint Cecilia Award. The December 1993 issue of the American Record Guide listed Mr. Farberman’s recordings of Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 2, 5, and 6 as among the best ever recorded. In 1995, he added to his growing list the initial recording of the Mahler Tenth Symphony (Clinton Carpenter version) with the Hungarica Philharmonie Orchestra.

A prolific composer, Mr. Farberman counts orchestral works, chamber music, concertos, ballet music, film scores, song cycles, and two operas among his compositions. His opera, The Losers, written in 1970, was commissioned by The Julliard School of Music and premiered at Lincoln Center the following year.

Mr. Farberman has been a tireless advocate on behalf of conductors. He founded the Conductors Guild in 1976 and served two terms as its first president; it now has 2,000 members. He established countrywide workshops for young conductors when he served as a member of the American Symphony Orchestra League Board in the 1970’s. He is the founder and director of the widely acclaimed Conductor’s Institute, a summer conducting program initiated at the Hartt School where he was Professor of Conducting and in later years relocated to Bard College.

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